His approach in the past has been that nobody ever knows his character's name before the interview starts. During Da Ali G Show, people would be told it was a

His approach in the past has been that nobody ever knows his character's name before the interview starts. During Da Ali G Show, people would be told it was a BBC production, or given the name of a production company, and everything would be set up and the interview subject ready to go before Cohen would enter the room. The point was to make it difficult for the subject to just get up and walk away.